J&K retains assessment powers under GST

JAMMU, Feb 7: Jammu and Kashmir government has retained the tax assessment and administration powers under Goods and Services Tax regime, which was an intractable issue post-GST implementation. “In a welcome move, the Union Finance Ministry has agreed to our contention of retaining cent percent assessment powers by the state’s tax administration for the businesses up to an annual turnover of Rs 1.50 Cr as also for the new businesses,” said Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu.He said in another significant decision, the Union Finance Ministry agreed to J&K’s proposal of assessing the businesses with a turnover of more than Rs 1.50 Cr on 80:20 basis. He said under this arrangement 80 percent of all assesses with a turnover above Rs 1.5 Cr in J&K would be assessed by the state authorities, while the remaining 20 percent would be assessed by the central authorities. “In a major relief for the local businesses, each assessee in J&K would be assessed only by one authority and they won’t have to jump from one authority to other," Drabu said, putting to rest fears over dual administration by the state and the Centre.In case of other states, there would be a dual mechanism of assessment with the central tax administration and the state government sharing the assessees with a turnover of Rs 1.5 Cr. Drabu said the dual mechanism of assessment would have created administrative hassles for the tax administration and the businesses in J&K. He said in case of other states the assessment mechanism for the businesses with turnover of above Rs 1.50 Cr would be on 50:50 basis between the state and the Centre.